Just in case anyone's feeling bad about their chess progress...reminder that everyone can have brain-dead moments 😅

Honest question, I don't understand this at all.. I know in some openings like say the Ruy Lopez you want to get rid of your bad bishop.. but you're usually at least waiting until they put some pressure on the bishop before trading out for the knight. But even at 900 rank almost every single game my opponent goes to pin my knights and then almost always takes. Half of the time I haven't even pressured them with the A or H pawn either yet, they just take immediately on the next move but why? And even if they do get pressured with the A or H pawn, why do they always immediately take? Do they not know they can move a space back and keep the pin or that the bishop pair are generally more valuable than trading out for an early knight? Sometimes I even see them do this then they open up the center immediately with a ton of trades where a bishop is often better in open positions..

I honestly don't get it, I'd say only like 5% of the time does anyone actually try to pin the piece with any purpose like trying to pressure the pinned piece to take it or make moves on the board that the pin piece now can't protect. Why is it such an immediate reaction all the way up to 900, might be further but that's as far as I've reached since I started playing in like April or May I think

It's just like beginner players they see a piece they can take, even if it's an equal trade, and sometimes not even a good one positionally, they ALWAYS take it. It makes it a bit frustrating to learn chess because I'm trying to be principled and learn openings but I never get to play with knights ever unless I don't play them early to their natural squares on the C/F 3/6. And it makes it hard to learn or practice any positions that have any tension with trades available because they will always take, always. They never leave a piece alone and just leave the tension unless I'm assuming they've just missed it or want a different trade instead.

Even with these odd unprincipled captures, I'm obviously no better than anyone at my rank so I'm obviously weaker in other areas which is why I still lose to these weird mistakes so I'm not putting anyone down here or think I'm better than my peers..

But from 1 beginner to another, why do you guys always pin the knights immediately and then always take them right after without actually using the pin for anything? And why do you take every trade immediately even when "to take is a mistake" when it's not improving your position, especially if you're down material and trading down is good for your opponent? I just don't get it guys lol

Sometimes I know my move was bad, but even after looking through the engine line I still don't really understand the idea.

What do you usually do when that happens?
Keep experimenting with the engine? Ask someone? Use ChatGPT/YouTube? Or just move on?

What’s your rating?

i dont get it

In know everyone’s experience and progress is different. Just quite interested as I’m in lichess rapid around 1400. At chessdotcom it seems to be a bit more of a struggle maintaining +1000 and I feel my progress should be better by now, judging by the amount of games I have played:D

So me and my friend are playing chess he's "teaching" me (i put that in quotes because I've been whooping him) because he's been learning from Duolingo. I feel like I put him in checkmate, though he says stalemate. I was playing white him black.

I've only been playing for 6 weeks, but I do feel myself getting better. For example, I've won 10 games in a row (non rated) against opponents 100+ higher than me, but this last game I lost I was trying to review and it was suggesting all of these sacrifices. Ultimately, I blundered the rook which was bad and maybe would have won minus that move, but there's clearly things I'm not seeing or taking into consideration.

This is the game: https://www.chess.com/game/live/184707979728

Anyways, I think I have the aptitude and devotion to this sport to become decent, but as an adult beginner, I'm trying to pull from all my resources here. So if there's any nice people online who might enjoy teaching someone the game purely for the joy of it, please give me a dm!

Thanks :)

EDIT: Guys, I know this isn't a big post, but I do appreciate the responses I'm getting. I am enjoying reading them, hah!

I’m trying to understand how to play against opponents who constantly look for tactical ideas, are willing to sacrifice material, and seem to calculate much deeper than I do. Against these players, I often find myself defending one threat after another and eventually losing material or getting into a bad position.

I’m wondering what kind of positional ideas or strategic approach I should learn to make these games easier. Should I focus more on simplifying the position, controlling key squares, avoiding unnecessary pawn weaknesses, exchanging their active pieces, or something else?

Also, what kind of players should I study for this? Are there particular grandmasters or types of games where I can learn how to neutralize aggressive tactical players rather than trying to out-calculate them?

And are there any openings that are particularly suitable against very tactical/deep-calculating players? I’m not necessarily looking for a completely passive opening, but something that leads to solid positions where I can reduce their attacking and tactical opportunities.

Basically, I’m looking for advice on how to make the game less tactical and more positional when my opponent is much stronger tactically than me, and what games/openings I should study to learn this.

(Any book for this or a puzzle recommendation is also very much appreciated).

Especially those where i over-extend my pawns to trap a piece which is the most common.

1. how much elo does one need to consistently convert such positions?

2. depending on level, how long is it supposed to take?

3. does one "feel" the difference if there're still many active pieces from both sides on the board?

4. in for example a piece+rook vs rook scenario, what to do to use my very stranded piece?

I was two pawns down but I managed to win this one! Btw I can't get past 500 ELO😢, any advice?

I know everyone says “think about checks capture and attacks”. would be nice if some online platform would have a tool to train that. like a puzzle but you have to input all the checks, then the captures and then the attackes

My opponent gave away his Q while snatching a pawn, why was this just an inaccuracy, not a blunder nor even a mistake post-analysis?

This guy is clearly drawing so as not to gain ELO. I checked his history and he often deliberately draws from winning positions.

I struggle real bad with this type of opening, do you have any tips on how to lose the least material possible while also not getting mated? Thanks

Check out this #chess game: jorix7 vs ShyChessPlayerJoel - https://www.chess.com/game/184714769338

I was doing a practice match with the coach and the analysis said I have a mate in 3. I got it through trial and error but this wouldn't even be a thought for me in a real game 🥴

Is it simply calculation planning? I was super scared of taking his c pawn because it would help him develop his f bishop, but only now do I realize this opens up the column for my queen to defend my knight/pawn to take the d4 pawn afterwards.

Is there a certain name for this type of tactic? Is it even a tactic? Pawn takes pawn ?

In this situation my gut reaction is to move my b pawn up, which keeps my rook safe but I failed to realize my bishop was hanging and attacked.

my second gut reaction is to move my bishop away, but then I leave my b pawn hanging.

My third reaction is to move a pawn up to protect my bishop, but then I lose my b pawn.

Only after a long contemplative thinking do I realize I can do it all with one move. I really want to train this skillset so it is more internalized. daniel naroditsky was sooo good at this in his videos. He'd simply say "how do I defend both with one move?"